Spring locking mechanism for railway-switches.



F. H. ELLIS. .SPRING LOCKING MEGHANISM FOR RAILWAY SWITCHES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9, 1910.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

www*

l/l//TA/ESSES FRANK I-I. ELLIS, OF

SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 BAIRBOUR-v STOGKWELL COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SPRING LOCKING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY-SWITCHES.

Losaeee.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24E, 1914.

Application filed May 9, 1910. Serial No. 560,173.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, FRANK H. ELLIS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Somerville, county of Middlesex, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring Locking Mechanism for Railway- Switches, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying the same and forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to a spring-lockin mechanism for railway switches.

The objects of my invention are to provide an adjustable spring-locking device for switches that is simple in construction, and that can be quickly adjusted to the desired position by the use of a lever or switch-stick, without any change in the relative positions of the coperating parts.

In the drawings which accompany this specication and form a part thereof Figure 1 is a plan of a switch with my spring-locking device attached showing the locking-spring in a central position and the switch-tongue thrown to the right and locked; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the switch-tongue thrown to the left and locked; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through line 3--3, Fig. 1; Fig. a is a plan of a section of a switch with the spring-locking device moved to the left of the extreme of its ad justment in that direction; and Fig. 5 is a plan of a section of the switch with the spring-locking device moved to the right to the extreme of its adjustment in that direction.

rIhe body of the switch 1 has united to it,

preferably by casting, sections of rails 3,.

and 1, 4. other way if desired. body 1 I preferably secure means of the bolts 6, 6, etc. rlhe plate 5 is provided with track surfaces 7 to match the tread of the abutting rails, and a guard 8. The switch-tongue 9 is pivoted at the heel 10 to the plate 5 and the body 1 in the usual manner and so as to swing on its pivot.

The spring-locking device for locking the switch-tongue 9 in position consists of the box 11 secured to or formed upon the body 1, as desired. The box 11 the three rounded notches 12, 13 and 14 positioned in a circle circumscribed about the pivot 21 and `arranged to receive a rounded The rails may be attached in any To the top of the a plate 5 by is provided with projection 15 forme-d upon the end of the spring-case 16. The spring-case 16 is a hollow shell formed to receive the spring 17. One end of the spring 17 abuts against the end of the case 16; its other end abuts against the washer 18 which is mounted in the eyebolt 19. The position of the washer 18 may be changed or adjusted to increase or decrease the tension of the spring 17 by means of adjusting nuts 20.

rPhe eyebolt 19 has a pin 21 inserted transversely so that the ends of the pin 21 project beyond the opposite sides of the eyebolt. The pin 21 is movably seated in the circular recesses 22, 22, formed in the bell crank lever 23. The bell crank lever is in turn provided with the projecting pins 24, 24, extending transversely of it, which are movably seated in a circular socket 25. The free end 2G of the lever 23 is pivoted by the pivot 27 to the switch-tongue operating-bar 28. The bar 28 extends transversely of the body of the switch 1 in a guiding slotl 29 and has projections 30, 30, extending above its upper face between which is seated the switch-tongue 9 so that longitudinal movement of the operatingbar 28 will cause a lateral movement of the switch-tongue 9. Likewise, a lateral movement of the switch-tongue 9 will cause a longitudinal movement of the bar 28.

When the projection 15 of the spring-case 16 is adjusted to the middle notch 13 the switch-tongue can be locked to either the right or left extreme of its throw, for the arms of the bell crank lever 23 are so proportioned that when the tongue is thrown to the right, as shown in Fig. 1, a line drawn between the center of the notch 13 and the center of the pivot 24 will pass to the left of the pivot 21 in the eyebolt 19, so that tension of the spring 17 exerted through the eyebolt 19 upon the bell crank Vlever 23 will tend to hold the switch-tongue 9 in its right hand position. Likewise, in Fig. 3, the tongue 9 is moved to the extreme left, thus moving the bell crank lever 23 until a line drawn from the .center of the notch 13 to the center of the pivotf24: will pass to the right-'of the pivot 21, thus demonstrating that the line of tension exerted by the spring 17 through the eyebolt 19 upon the bell crank lever 23 tends to lock the switch in its extreme left position against displacement. Y

If it be desired to make of the switch` whatV is-termed a spring-switch; z'. e.,

to so adjustthe spring-locking device that theswitch-tongue will be spring-locked in its right hand position, as shown in Fig. 1, the spring-case 16 would be moved to the left until the projection would rest in the notch 12, as shown in F ig. 4. vIn this posi- Y tion forcible movement of the switch-tongue tongue would be to the left, through the iange of a car-wheel forcibly passing through the switch, would compress the spring 17 through the eyebolt 19 by said movement of the switch, but would not permit enough rotative movement of the bell crank lever 23 to allow the pivot 21 to pass by a line drawn from'the center of the notch 12 t0 the center of the pivot 24, so that the tension of the spring 17 would at all times be exerting force tending to retain the switch-tongue 9 in its right hand position; hencewhen a car-wheel passed 'beyond the switch-tongue it would immediately snap over to its extreme right hand position and the spring-locking device would automatically assume the position shown in Fig. 4. Likewise, if the spring-case 16 was moved until the rounded projection 15 rested inthe notch 14, the spring would exert its tension in a line tending to hold the switch-tongue always in an eXtreme left hand position, and the spring-locking device would assume the position shown in Fig. 5; thus if a car passes from the siding to the main track, the forced over to the right against the tension of the spring 17, but immediately the flange of the wheel passed beyond the end of the tongue, the spring 17 and intervening mechanism would tend to immediately t-hrow the switch-tongue to the left, as shown in Fig. 2.

From the description it will be seen that the locking device may be set so as to retain the tongue either in a left or a right hand position, as desired; or it can be set to a position to retain the tongue in a right hand position only; or as shown in Fig. 5, to a 'left hand position only; thus making three points of adjustment without detaching any of the operating parts or changing' their positions withrelation to each other.

In practice, the boX 11 is provided with a detachable coverto cover up the mechanism which may be readily taken off by a railway employee, such as a motorman or conductor, a switch-stick the positions desired, and the cover replaced. To enable the ready adjustment of the spring-case by means of a used to pry the spring-case j 16 over to any of lever or switch-stick, I provide notches 31, 81, into which the end of the switch-stick or lever may be inserted in orderto get a leverage upon the spring-case 16.

Various changes mav be made in the form of the mechanisms shown, as well as in the location of the parts, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is 1. In a switch, a laterally movable tongue; a spring-actuated locking mechanism for yieldingly locking said tongue, comprising a slide-bar engaging with the tongue; a rocking lever pivoted to the slide-bar; and an adjustable spring-actuated member pivoted to said lever, arranged to permit its free end to be moved into either of a plurality of bearings to change the direction of the thrust of the spring with reference to the lever, to hold the tongue in either of its operative positions.

2. In a switch, a laterally movable switchtongue; a spring-actuated slide-bar engaging said switch-tongue; a lever pivoted to said slide-bar; a fulcrum formed in said lever; a bearing for said fulcrum; a springactuated member pivoted to the free end of said lever; and a plurality of bearings for the free end of said spring-actuated member to change its direction of thrust to yieldingly hold the switch-tongue in one or the other of its operative positions, as desired.

3. In a switch, a spring-actuated locking mechanism for yieldingly locking the switch-tongue, comprising a slide-bar engaging the switch-tongue; an oscillating lever pivoted to the slide-bar; a fulcrum formed on said lever; a bearing for said fulcrum; a bearing on the other end of said lever; a spring-actuated member having a pivo-t at one end to it into said bearing; an adjustable collar on said spring-actuated member arranged to form a bearing for one end of a spring; a spring-case forming a bearing for the other end of said spring; and a plurality of bearings located in a circle about the pivot of the lever arranged to receive the free end of the spring-case so l as to change the direction of thrust of the spring.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set I my hand, in the presence of two subscribing j witnesses, this the sixth day of May, A. D.

FRANK H. ELLIS.

litnesses I CLARENCE P. WESTON, i R. P. ELLIOTT.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for ve cents each, by addressing' the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

